The odd one out
by GDeacur
Summary: Olimar discovers a new, unique kind of pikmin. Hoping it would aid him in his mortal task, he pulled up more than he expected. Centered around the events of the first game.
1. A sprout in the grass

**A sprout in the grass**

"Hup… hup… hup…"

Olimar had come to recognize the distinctive sound of pikmin at work. The group of twenty yellow pikmin plodded on tirelessly, dragging the cockpit canopy to the Dolphin through the gently swaying grass. Discerning their struggle, Olimar ordered a few nearby reds to desist from their demolition and aid in the transport. With the cockpit canopy moving steadily towards the ship and the other red pikmin nearly finished braking down the twig wall, Olimar took a moment to relax and look around.

_It's a beautiful planet. Too bad the atmosphere is filled with oxygen,_ he thought. _Thankfully I've got three weeks left…._ Olimar was satisfied with his progress: twelve (soon to be thirteen) parts in nine days. All the same, he had no desire to slow down, and he had recently lost a huge number of the helpful little creatures to a badly planned bulborb attack near water. Though the others seemed not to notice, and, frankly, the plant-ish animal-ish things seemed rather brainless as a whole, he still felt guilty. Circumstance gave him authority over the creatures and hope… and a responsibility for their safety, he felt.

The crash of the wall coming down broke Olimar's chain of thought. The red pikmin bounced up and down happily at the sight of the rubble as Olimar stepped by to peer into the enclosure.

_Oh great._

The area in front of him was wide and bowl shaped, with four sleeping Spotty Bulborbs in the distance. There was a little bit of grass in the middle but, clearly, no parts belonging to his spaceship.

_Well, now I know._

Olimar was about to turn around until an oddly shaped piece of grass with a leaf on the end caught his eye. Deciding he would be safe as long as the dozen pikmin remained behind (as they had a habit of picking fights they had no hope of winning), Olimar tip toed forward. As he suspected, it was a sprout. He'd only seen sprouts underneath the onions so far – what could one be doing out here? It certainly wasn't one of his. The bulbears' snore was starting to push him back towards the entrance, but his recently diminished forces made his feet feel heavy.

_What's the worse that could happen?_

Olimar closed his eyes and yanked the sprout as quietly as he could. Up popped a pikmin he'd never seen before. The thing staring at him seemed mildly disturbed, but quickly relaxed. Olimar wasn't sure how he could discern this solely by the little thing's eyes, but he was pleased at his latest discovery. Its non-descript skin seemed to be a dark hue of brown or green – good for camouflage, no doubt. Olimar imagined it would be all the better concealed in the dwindling daylight.

_Uh oh. I've got to move._

Running straight back for the entrance and calling the red pikmin to his side, Olimar started heading for his ship. As soon as he reached the Dolphin, he turned around to count his troops.

_Twelve red, twenty yellow, one… miscellaneous. _

What it lacked in color, it claimed in… something else. Olimar wasn't sure what, but there was something different about this one. It seemed a little more intelligent… no, it wasn't just that - it seemed a little more… "aware" than the others. A standout, to be sure.

_I'll think of a name for you tomorrow._

Olimar blew the whistle, sending the Pikmin off to their respective onions. The new one headed for the red onion as though nothing out of the ordinary were taking place. Olimar went back into the Dolphin, both curious and afraid of what the next day would bring.


	2. The next level

**The next level**

"Up you go, buddy!" said Olimar as he tossed his favorite pikmin up onto the pilot's seat that twenty-six red pikmin were hauling. The creature flapped back and forth from atop his roughly carried, temporary throne. Appearance was deceiving, however, as this was one pikmin that pulled his own weight. Olimar had yesterday witnessed an unusual but welcome demonstration of this.

_Yesterday… day ten…._

A pair of fiery blowhogs had parked their way in front of the caravan. Seeing that this threat needed to be addressed immediately, Olimar blew his whistle furiously and called all twenty pikmin, red, newly discovered blue, and other, to his side. He began strafing his way around the hogs, waiting for them to dispense their fiery breath and create a window of opportunity. Things went as planned; the blowhogs blew, Olimar kept his gang out of the way, and the group charged. However, Olimar hadn't forseen the results of the group being split up. The blowhogs shook off their attackers to their front and prepared to decimate. In a blink, Olimar had to be two places at once. He whistled at the nearest with success; they picked themselves up and began to rally to his side. But Olimar wasn't even watching them – he was frantically whistling at the other group. Most were still on the ground, though his special pikmin had a head start as it seemed to know how to handle impact. Unfortunately, the blowhog seemed to single the moving pikmin – meaning that a wall of flame was about to appear between the returning group and Olimar.

Thankfully, his special pikmin showed his true colors. As the rest of the group started to run back to Olimar, having been whistled, the different one made an odd squeaking noise and ran _away_ from Olimar and the fire in front of them. Remarkably, the group seemed to recognize the pikmin's squeak as they would a whistle. They retreated momentarily under their recently recognized sub leader and stayed alive.

Olimar called them again and ran off in the distance, trying to gather his thoughts. One the one hand, he was angry with himself for nearly losing the life or flowers of those ten pikmin. On the other hand, he was extremely happy with his special pikmin's performance. His commander, he decided to call him, now demonstrated unmistakably that it was of a significantly higher intellect than the others. Additionally, it was coupled with good physical ability.

Olimar's spirits jumped. Escape from this deathtrap seemed more feasible than ever.

_Keep an eye out for them…._

Olimar confidently left the pilot seat and its bearers in his commander's hands.

_Erm… paws._

Olimar exhaled. _I'd better make good use of this time and increase my ranks._

Olimar headed off in the opposite direction towards a field of pellet posies. Nothing unusual happened, giving Olimar a moment to explore. Just past the field was a peculiar looking basin with seemingly nothing to offer but slumbering enemies clumped together. After heading down a ramp and getting a closer look, Olimar confirmed his initial appraisal.

_Well… no reason to come back here, then. I've got to play it safe, even while breeding my pikmin._

After returning to the now-destroyed flowers, he gathered up the stragglers and followed the last of his hauls back to the ship.

Returning by the path the pilot seat had recently trod, Olimar was mildly apprehensive. He was initially afraid to see ten dwarf bulbear carcasses strewn about. Thankfully, only five of his own meet the same fate. Olimar winced at the sight of the red and yellow pikmin's bodies as he always did, but he couldn't look away. Their eaten up corpses were a sorry sight and a stinking mess.

He reminded himself that the encounter still went relatively well. There were just enough pikmin to continue carrying the load back to his ship, and his commander again showed organizational aptitude. Had they been on their own, they'd probably all be dead and the part sitting on the ground.

_Still…I've got to be even more careful. But then, I don't have unlimited time and resources, and sacrifices have to be made._

Moving on with eyes wide open, Olimar put his thoughts aside reached his ship with a few moments to spare. He had enough time to see his seat returned to the ship and the onions sprout a few new seeds. Facing the gang, he did what he did every night.

_Twenty one red, twenty eight yellow, ten blue, one commander. Plus seeds._

_Not bad._


	3. The odd one out

**The odd one out**

Fifteen days had past. Twenty four parts had been recovered. Yet the stranded spaceman was disturbed. More specifically, he felt suspicious in light of recent events. Again, he entrusted the safe return of lost parts to his commander. Again, battles were fought behind his back, and again, parts were delivered with just enough pikmin remaining to effect transport. But why were the dead bodies of pikmin and every other hostile creature on the planet so far from the direct route back to ship?

_Today's the day,_ thought Olimar.

He'd set down in the first major region, where he'd discovered his second in command. A battle late yesterday had left a frightening beetle-like creature wounded but not destroyed. That would have to change if he were to make off with his radiation canopy. A little west, he'd noticed another part high up on a ledge. This, too, he wanted to recover.

_But first things first. I need to get to the bottom of this._

First, he approached the ledge whereupon a part was lodged. After hurling a few yellow pikmin up, it came crashing down with its liberators. "Good." He allotted five more pikmin to aid with the transport as his commander hopped atop the piece to oversee the return.

Second, he ran off east with the other five dozen pikmin at his command, towards the armoured cannon beetle.

Third, once out of the returning group's sight, he lodged all sixty pikmin into a secluded little nook in the forest wall and ordered them to remain. Once he was sure there were no predators nearby, Olimar retraced his steps through the morning fog to his previous location. The little footprints were impossible to identify amidst the rough terrain, but Olimar wasn't deterred – he had a good theory of where the part and its bearers had passed. Heading back towards the ship, he angled slightly west towards some sleeping dwarf red bulborbs he caught sight of at the beginning of the day. He approached the grassy mound with caution, crouched and with audio receptors at full volume.

_Something's happening up there…it's quiet, but there's this odd smacking noise._

Hidden by both the thickening fog of higher altitude and an unnaturally slow pace, Olimar eyed the scene as a stalker would its prey. A battle had transpired; two dwarf bulborbs were dead along with three yellow pikmin. The part was nowhere to be seen, as all the remaining pikmin were doubtless hauling it off to the ship. One stayed behind, which was currently chewing on the remains of the yellow pikmin while two other of its kind consumed the bulborbs. Once the image registered, Olimar wasted no time. He sprinted towards the three with such intensity that two of the three scavengers ran off. The remaining one, no doubt his very own, stared nervously as Olimar drew near. He grabbed the pikmin by the conical growth on its head. Realizing the full extent of its former master's anger and his determination to punish, the pikmin fought back. But Olimar held fast so that it couldn't reach him with its short arms. Dragging the pikmin kicking and screeching, he marched sternly towards his destination – the basin where he first found this deceptive, cunning carrion eater. As he reached the edge, he saw that the massive red bulborbs were wide awake. One prowled around the center where a small nest was visible. Another guarded the entrance/exit to the basin. Without stopping to reconsider, Olimar threw the pikmin he'd only six days earlier plucked back into the wide depression. The pikmin screamed as it frantically tried to dig its way down before the bulborb found it. Olimar didn't look back to witness the outcome.

Returning to his group of sixty, he resumed his intended activities. He defeated the cannon beetle with ease, knowing its tactics. The radiation shield was returned with a few minutes to spare. Of course, the other part had been returned as well – a Geiger counter. The day had been disappointing in a sense, yet satisfying in another. He stood up to count his pikmin.

_Thirty red, seventeen yellow, thirty blue._

They were all accounted for. Olimar hadn't lost one of his, under his command, the entire day. He would soon be off, successful in his escape, and they would be more numerous than ever. It had been a beneficial partnership. Each had done their duty.

_But I'm the only one who knows it,_ he mused, more anxious than ever to get home.

**The End.**


End file.
